Jacob Rounds Blog

This morning my mom told me shortly after I woke up about this thing going around on social media that she heard about called the "Tide Pod Challenge." She warned me not to do this because firstly it's stupid and secondly, it is causing people to die. Essentially what the challenge is, is to eat a tide pod, which are typically used for washing your clothes. People then go to post it on social media, in order to show off I guess?? I'm sure if I saw someone do that I would instantly think that person is super cool and I want to be them. Later that afternoon I began to see more about the tide pod challenge, it was mentioned on the snapchat featured stories. Apparently the incidents of people consuming these has increased quite a bit, in addition they were consumed intentionally much more as well. According to the Stay Tuned snapchat story, it originally started off as a joke about how they look like candy. According to the consumer product safety commission, 10 people h

While I am very aware that women face more difficulty and are often times treated as unequal to men, there were several part so of the documentary that I was quite skeptical of and or disagreed with. For example, I was a little bit unsure of when it was claiming that women are stereotyped by men and are expected to look and be a certain way and that this is only something women deal with. Men oftentimes face similar issues, men are expected to pay on first dates, and initiate most things, in addition to having women scrutinize men's looks as well. In addition, most of these issues were blamed on media and the way it portrays women, yet towards the end of the film it talked about how  women have the majority of purchasing power and consume media the most, and that it is probably more fun to watch reality tv for hours instead of reading (this was when it was talking about how women should empower themselves towards the end). What confuses me Ian why women are the lead consumers of th

There is always something that's trending, and people always pursue these things in an effort to seem cool. The problem with marketing towards trends is that when something becomes too mainstream it becomes less cool. An example of something being popular and then going out of style recently is popsockets for phone cases, which attach to the back of a phone and allows you to prop it up. I feel as if most people just bought these in order to fit in not because they actually used it to prop up their phones. Another item that is hot and trendy is clout goggles. These glasses are quite cheap and a few celebrities wearing them made people want to wear them as well. Then as more people wore then everyone felt as if they had to buy a pair to increase their "clout" which is basically being seen as cool or being popular/influential.  A few brands have mastered marketing towards being cool. Supreme for example, sells a limited amount of their clothes in order to crea

So Star Wars The Last Jedi was a hit. I saw the movie twice over break and both times I was quite entertained. I saw the movie the first time on the Wednesday after Christmas, and dragged myself out of bed as soon as I heard that my mom and brothers were going to the movie. This was difficult because I was up until 2 the night before, but still very worth it. I guess you could say I'm not a true fan because I didn't see the movie until awhile after it came out, however I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Unfortunately, because I was so late to seeing the movie, I had already heard some spoilers, which someone decided to post on their snapchat story, much to my annoyance. I had heard that Finn died, so during several scenes where he barely avoided death I was quite surprised to see him alive. Also I heard that Rey doesn't become any stronger with the force, which was also a lie. Basically, I thought someone had spoiled parts of it but really he hadnt't. I was impresse

Lately as I have been browsing through social media, I keep seeing the mention of net neutrality. On Instagram lots of large account have been posting about it, and it is also mentioned quite a lot in the featured Snapchat stories. This has led me to wonder more about what net neutrality is and why it's such a big deal right now. On Snapchat, I have read a little bit about it but not enough to fully understand it. Essentially what net neutrality ensures is that internet service providers give all sites equal speeds and don't favor certain sites over others. It seems as if this would be fair, but arguably some sites with more traffic might benefit from faster speeds. This has stirred quite a controversy, because the changes in net neutrality could somehow cost users money. Because I didn't fully understand this I decided to do some research, because it seems as if this whole net neutrality thing could affect me directly. A quick google search led me to some findings, I rea

Last weekend on the drive back from Santa Cruz, my Dad and I stopped at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. While we were there to get a filling meal on the long drive home, I had to use the restroom. If you have ever been to Five Guys, you will know about all the little pictures from articles and awards that are hanging from the walls. Things such as "voted best burger" and "winner of best place to stop for a burger and fries," decorate the walls all throughout the fast food chain. Here are a few more examples: While this bombardment of advertising is posted throughout the store, I didn't expect to see the same stuff throughout the bathroom! This unique attempt to "break through the clutter" of all the burger advertising is certainly different than other types of advertising. Even though this form of Guerilla advertising stands out, I think it is just another contribution to the clutter and less of something that is seperate. However, while many a